The men's 400 metres was the third-shortest of the men's track races in the

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 partic ...

program in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. It was held on 17 October, 18 October, and 19 October 1964. 55 athletes from 36 nations entered, with 5 not starting in the first round. The first two rounds were held on 17 October, with the semifinals on 18 October and the final on 19 October. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Mike Larrabee Mike Larrabee (''Michael Denny Larrabee;'' December 2, 1933 – April 22, 2003) was an American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Born in Hollywood, California and raised in Ventura, Larrabee was a young running ...

of the United States, the third consecutive and tenth overall victory for an American in the event. Trinidad and Tobago and Poland each earned their first medal in the 400 metres.

Background

This was the fifteenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1960 returned. The United States again had a strong team;

Henry Carr Henry Carr (November 27, 1941 – May 29, 2015) was an American track and field athlete who won two gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.Ulis Williams Ulis C. Williams (born October 24, 1941) is an American former athlete, winner of a gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He later served as President of Compton Community College in Compton, California, from 1996 to ...

was the 1962 and 1963 AAU champion, but

matched the world record to win the U.S. Olympic trials. Other contenders included 1962 European champion Robbie Ian Brightwell of Great Britain and

Wendell Mottley Wendell Adrian Mottley ORTT (born 2 July 1941) is a Trinidad and Tobago economist, politician and athlete. Mottley served as Senator and member of the House of Representatives with the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament and was Minister of Finance fr ...

of Trinidad and Tobago. Hong Kong, Iran, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Tanzania appeared in this event for the first time. South Korea and Mongolia had entrants, but did not start. The United States made its fifteenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. A significant change, however, was the introduction of the "fastest loser" system. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1964 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the first round who did not advance based on place. The 1964 event also increased the standard heat size to 8 athletes. There were 7 heats in the first round, each scheduled to have 7 or 8 athletes but with one dropping to as low as 5 after withdrawals. The top four runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals, along with the next four fastest runners overall. There were 4 quarterfinals of 8 runners each; the top four athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 8 runners each. The top four runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making an eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 25–26.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows. No records were set during this event.

Schedule

All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

(

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

)

Results

First round

The top four runners in each of the 7 heats advanced.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Quarterfinals

The four fastest runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

The top four runners in each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics - Men's 400 metres Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics 400 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1964 Summer Olympics